


not just a pretty face

by rottengirl69



Category: Deltarune (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: A lot of sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Artists, Asgore is too pure, Childhood Trauma, Dirty Jokes, Established Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), F/M, Frisk (Undertale) Is Dead, Other, Overprotective Sans (Undertale), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Papyrus (Undertale), Protectiveness, Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader is an artist, Rough Sex, Royal Guard Papyrus (Undertale), Sans (Undertale) Swears, Self-Acceptance, Slow Burn, Soul Bond, Soul Sex, Soulmates, Swearing, Trans Mettaton (Undertale), Worried Sans (Undertale), ill add more tags i stg, we love a positive fanfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-08-28 17:29:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16727805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rottengirl69/pseuds/rottengirl69
Summary: after being commissioned to compose a very politically driven painting, a bounty is put on your head, and you're suddenly a very high profile criminal. to escape your crimes, you hide in a suspiciously unstable sewer, where you find an opening to a very strange, yet beautiful, world.





	1. the fall

There, all done.

You staggered backwards, admiring the results of your 14-hour-coffee-fueled-art-session. 

Oh, it was _definitely_ going to get you arrested.

You grinned smugly, picking up your thinnest paintbrush and dipping it in the duck egg blue paint splodge that had almost dried up and began to sign your name in the bottom left corner of the painting, despite the cramp in your little finger begging for you to set the paintbrush down and have a hot bath. _Later_ , you told yourself, and placed the small paintbrush onto the easel before stretching your fingers out like pale starfishes, hearing your bones click. 

The painting was _provocative_ , to put it nicely. After receiving a handsome tip in your mailbox, you couldn't help but complete the commission; the image of the current town mayor, atop of a pile of humanoid creatures, all wearing a strange, unnamed family crest that resembled an orb with angel wings and three little triangles. All of the creatures were dead. The commissioner had provided you with enough information to understand what you were painting, but not enough information to understand its full meaning. It didn't matter to you though, you got paid and they got the art they wanted. Everyone's happy. 

Except, not _everyone_ was happy. 

It's been two weeks since you'd distributed your painting, and now you were a wanted criminal. 

"Asking for help doesn't make you a pussy, you know?" Your friend, Winnie asked as she watched you frantically stuff your whole wardrobe into one, faded red campers bag. Winnie was your best friend and neighbour and had stopped by your flat after hearing you scream "FUCK" out of your kitchen window, followed by the crash of glass on concrete. Now she was here, trying to get you not to run away. You chewed angrily on your bottom lip, tapping your foot against the wooden floorboards of your flat.

"I'm going to pack a gas cooker."

"Don't fucking pack a gas cooker, you twat." 

You darted into the kitchen and ripped the small gas cooker out of your cupboard before trying desperately to fit the contraption into your already overpacked bag. Sighing, you threw it to the floor, slouching against the bag. "What if I get lost in the woods, Winnie? Fuck." You whimpered, punching your bag with all of the energy you had left. Winnie rolled her eyes, leaning with one arm on your windowsill.

"You're being _so_ overdramatic," She replied, watching you with a bored expression. 

"I am not! I am not being over-fucking-dramatic! Winnie, I'm a criminal!" You screeched back, making animated gestures with your hands. You shook your head and lugged your heavy bag onto your back, heading for the door, glaring at your friend, watching as her face suddenly filled with dread.

"Wait, where are you going?" Winnie gawped, tensing up with fear as you wrapped your trusty (f/c) scarf around your neck, clunking out of the door with your belongings.

"Running away." 

* * *

 

You wandered through the city cautiously, getting some funny looks from locals. Your town never really got visitors, and if it did then it was almost always a photographer that had found some sort of fascination with the mountain that sat the South of your little town. You felt shit and probably looked shit too, not that anybody could see, considering you were concealed by your scarf. And thank god you were wearing a scarf! just ahead, two officers walked down the sidewalk, their eyes shooting around the busy street. Had you not worn your scarf, you would have been caught and you would not have escaped to the next town over and began a nice life, married some dude probably named Roy and had two beautiful kids and died at a nice, old age, warm in your bed. Thank God for your scarf! You got your happily ever after, well done. Well, that's it. The story's over, right?

Oh, honey, this story wasn't tagged with slow burn for no reason. 

"There! Right ahead!" One of the officers thundered, taking off down the cobblestone streets, coming right for you.

_Oh fuck..._

You take off, your feet slipping outwards on the soggy autumn leaves, darting around the corner and sprinting down the tight, winding alleyway. Your heart beats frantically, if you stop running or fall over, you'll have to pay the price. The thought alone shoots a pang of fear up your spine, propelling your body even faster. Each footfall caused your bones to rattle, sending shockwaves of pain from your ankles to your knees. You'll regret this tomorrow, you think, taking another sharp turn, finding a brick wall. A few meters away, you can hear the jingle of heavy metal police gear, causing you to panic. You swivel on your feet, noticing an oh-so-conveniently-placed sewer lid.

"Oh for _fuck_ sake," You hiss, digging your nails into the side of the lid, pulling the heavy iron disk from its place, chucking your bag onto a ledge and crawling inside, desperately trying to pull the lid back into place, a loud 'thunk' letting you know you were fully hidden.  The smell of the sewer was nauseating. Below you, a congealed mass of waste bubbled, a putrid odour permeating from every pore, nearly causing you to gag. To escape the smell, you tuck yourself onto the ledge with your bag, sitting up against a suspiciously straight wall. You fingers feel around the wall slowly, noting that actually, the wall was made of wood...

The footsteps above you remind you of why you were currently in a sewer, touching up a wooden wall. You listen to their hushed mumbles before they walk away at a casual pace. You sighed. _A bit underwhelming for a police chase_ , you snort, secretly hoping the police officers could find you so you could go down in a blaze of glory. You sat dead still against the wooden wall, letting your mind catch up with your body before twisting to face to the wooden wall, digging into your pocket to pull out your phone. As quietly as possible, you pull your bag to the side, turning on your flashlight and directing the light toward the wooden surface to find...

_That symbol..._

Your hand lingered on the peeling paint, your curiosity screaming at you to explore more. You push your ears against it, listening out for something, _anything_. You can't hear much except the sound of rushing water, which was pretty normal considering you were in a fucking sewer. You were about to give up exploring, but a feeling in your chest told you otherwise. Your heart swelled with excitement and fear and nearly brought you to tears. The feeling was too intense. You had to do something. 

Before you could process what you were doing, you pressed your hand against the wood again, giving it a firm push, then another, and _another_ , until-

The wooden boundary snapped, causing you to hurl yourself out of the small hole you had created. You choked on the stale air, feeling your leg crack as it got caught between the strap of your bag and the hard concrete edge you had just fallen off. The bag gave way and began to free fall into the abyss with you.

You had finally fallen down. 


	2. a human? in waterfall?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphys gets a surprise visit.

Alpyhs found comfort in silence. That's why she liked WATERFALL so much; it was a quiet little place filled with quiet little people, much opposed to her home in HOTLAND. She came to WATERFALL to work, or whenever she had the time to. Alphys wasn't much of an explorer, but she did have a curious streak. One day, on a walk through WATERFALL, she found a quiet little ledge, nestled between some vegetation and a huge body of water. Now, when her lab became suffocating, she'd go there to work or relax- she even had a little box of emergency supplies (basically snacks with little to no nutritional value and some old, musty, yellowing paper) tucked away behind a small flurry of echo flowers.

Alphys sat with her back against the cool rock, her scales appreciating the moisture in the air. Her head rocked back, feeling the tension of the days work melt down her spine, letting a slow sigh escape her lips. She can't remember the last time she'd felt this relaxed! Her eyes wandered upwards to where she presumed the roof of the cavern and noticed a slither of light pulsating above her. It was rhythmic like something was trying to escape, trying to break through the rock. Alphys tried not to overthink it and brushed it off as some sort of light monster. Trying to refocus, she tried to occupy herself with a particularly interesting echo flower but found her eyes slowly creeping back to that light source. She watched it intently, hypnotized by the distant light. Alphys could have sworn that if she tried hard enough, she could hear a very quiet pounding that echoed around WATERFALL. She studied it for a bit longer before eventually losing interest and getting up to leave, when suddenly the light source turned into what Alphys could only describe as a _supernova._ Alphys froze on the spot, watching as something fell from the light above, letting out a shriek of terror as it descended. It landed with a splash, followed by another loud crash not too far away. Alphys tip-toed toward the mass, to find it was a _human_.

Alphys felt her soul jump in her ribcage. _A human_? In _WATERFALL_? She did a little dance on the rock she stood on, letting out a troubled hiss through her teeth as she evaluated the situation. 

_* There's a human. in front of me. Oh my god._

_* Oh god oh fuck oh god oh fuck what do_ _I do--_

Alphys stopped her mini-meltdown when she noticed that the human was bleeding, at a worryingly rapid pace. Now, Alphys didn't really know a lot about human blood, but she knew how to heal. Swallowing her fear, she flung herself into the shallow water, shakily looking over the human with nervous eyes, before dragging them ashore and wrapping one scaly hand around a nasty looking cut on their calf, sighing in relief when she picked up on a sound of approval from the currently unconscious human. Her eyes darted around the cavern before hauling the human into some long grass, once again wading into the water to pick up the humans bag and throw it next to them for when they woke up.

_* Shall I call the Royal Guard?_

_* No, I know what happened to Frisk._

She bit her lip again, hesitantly standing up.

_* If a tiny kid like Frisk can make it through the UNDERGROUND, then I'm sure this girl can. Sorry about this, human..._

With a reluctant look in her eye, Alphys quickly scampered off, trying her best to brush the memory of the human out of her mind, for the good of monster kind. 

* * *

 

You drifted in and out of consciousness, the world blurring into a multitude of colours, grotesque images floating aimlessly in your pool of thoughts, as though they were being blown around but a vicious hurricane. It seemed as though gravity had been turned up tenfold, holding you against the dirty ground. Where were you? You try to recollect your thoughts, but your mind is too foggy to recall anything. The sound of rushing water is the first thing to hit you, and you're suddenly thrown back to consciousness, recalling every tiny detail of the night before, your face becoming hot with anger as you thought about Winnie.

She _snitched_ on you.

You wanted to get up and crawl back through whatever hole you had fallen out of and punch her in her face. You nearly chuckled at the idea of her seeing you alive and well after what she'd done.

" _Bitch,_ " you spat, trying to push yourself off the floor, but you once again found yourself stuck. Get up.

Get up.

~~_Get up._ ~~

**_☝☜❄ 🕆🏱._ **

The sudden sensation of being pushed forced you up, causing you to stumble on the rock surface you had landed on, teetering on the edge of the shore, nearly falling into what seemed like a glowing lake. You stilled yourself, holding your hands out to find something to balance on, eventually finding your poise. You groaned, letting the blood flow back to your body -- speaking of blood, what happened to your leg? 

You quickly knelt back down, running your hands over a cut in your trousers to find no wound. How long had you been down here? Your head began to spin, sending you into panic mode as you evaluated the situation. Glowing lakes, supernatural activity and no concept of time? You had to be dead, right? You quickly looked around, shocked by the beauty of the cavern you had found yourself in. You thought hell would look a lot _fierier_ than this. You were surrounded by beautiful blue flowers, illuminated softly by cyan jewels that glimmered in the low light of the cave, buzzing with energy. You looked to your left and saw a sign. 

"So people live here, then." You told yourself, grabbing your half wet bag and pulling it onto your back, heading towards the sign. It towered above you, and the low light made it difficult to read, but you just about made out the lettering;

_**LEFT FOR HOTLAND         RIGHT FOR SNOWDIN** _

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for your support so far!! this blew up way more than i thought it would?? its an absolute madness.
> 
> if you wanna talk with me, feel free to message me on my art account on instagram @mfeuxart-- id love to talk with you all!! if you have any fanart or questions please send them my way!! <3


	3. the angel has arrived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you finally make a decision.

_SNOWDIN or HOTLAND..._

You sighed to yourself, knowing your options were limited, and the grumble in your stomach making it even more obvious that you had to make a choice pretty sharpish. Glancing down at your body, you noted you had not dressed appropriately for 'snow' or 'heat,' and distinctly remembered packing little-to-no clothes for hot or cold climates, but instead packed everything you would need for a camping trip in a mild forest in the middle of August. Yo stared up at the sign angrily, hoping maybe it would magically come to life and aid you through this fantasy world you had found yourself in. But, alas, the wooden sign remained silent. You sat down with your back against it, listening as it groaned quietly under your weight. You watched the glowing river ahead of you absentmindedly, studying it. The river was like a cobra. It lay across the land with smooth, rounded curves, beautiful in the dim cerulean light, cool and innocuous.  Yet it hid a myriad of dangers, whatever creatures lurking beneath the neon waterline being the least of your concerns. What if it was poisonous? What if it was a trap? Is it acid? A mangled line of thoughts span around your head like laundry in a machine; each thought spinning around and around until your paranoia caused your lungs to lock up, freezing you on the spot. On the horizon of the river, a hooded figure could be seen. The blood in your body turned to concrete and held you still. If your eyes could open any wider, they would have popped out of your eye sockets by now. Shivering with fear, the hooded figure came to a stop just in front of you, turning its head slowly to look at you. 

"I am the riverman. Or am I the river woman? It doesn't really matter. I love to ride in my boat. Care to join me?"

The faceless voice was strangely soft, yet scratchy, like a singer with a smoking problem. Had you of been in a normal situation, you would have considered this persons voice _'friendly'_. The person was small, too. They stood at about 5'4 with no obvious or clear body structure or hints of gender and wore a simple, threadbare blue poncho. His boat was worn and old, and showed places of damage, the clear protective coating peeling away from the wood. The wood itself was a heavy, red-tinted wood that resembled mahogany, but from your time in the ' _crazy glowing cavern,'_  you had seen only black, glowy trees. Was this just some terrible spin-off of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that you had been unconsensually dragged into after falling through the sewer? You sure as hell hoped so. 

Clenching and unclenching your jaw, you stood up slowly, your legs turning into to jelly. 

"Who are you?" You choked, eyeing up your opposition. 

"Was you not listening, silly? I am the Riverman, or am I the Riverwoma-" 

"What's your name?"

"I do not have a name, I'm afraid. But, if you come with me on my boat, I can tell you a plethora of things that are more important than my non-existent name. What do you say? " 

* * *

 

Hours had passed by the time the Riverman offered to actually take you anywhere. He had told you everything you needed to know; where you was, who was important around here and how to get out, all while aimlessly drifting along a river. He was an eccentric character with a kind heart, and during your time with him, you had discovered that his other hobby besides sailing was in fact singing. He learnt a little about you too, but you were cautious to keep him at bay until you knew he was 100% a good man. 

"I'm going to take you to SNOWDIN. You will be comfortable there." He whispered as he angled the boat slightly left down a smaller river which was a clear, icy blue. 

"What's it like?" You mumbled back, dipping your hand into the welcoming waters, which was very cold, causing you to immediately rip your hand out of the liquid and hide it under your armpit to get some warmth back to it. 

"It is very cold. You will enjoy it." He replied, plunging his wooden ore down into the water and bringing the boat to a halt beside a small ledge which was covered in an off-white, footprint stained sheet of snow. You shivered, getting off of the boat and looking up to the top of the cavern to notice a whole weather system forming overhead as particles of snow drifted to the floor slowly. You looked up to the Riverman to see he had turned to face you already, slightly slouched over. 

"Human, whatever happens from this point onwards, I swear I will be your friend." He rasped as two skinny, gloved hands came out and reached for your face, angling your head upwards. " _The angel has arrived..._ " 

The Riverman suddenly straightened up and pulled his hands back underneath his cloak, reverting back to the Riverman you had met a few hours ago. 

"We have reached SNOWDIN. Enjoy, human. I hope to see you again soon." 

And with that, he took off down the icy river, leaving you cold and alone in SNOWDIN. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo! we love a short chapter.
> 
> thank you for your support guys and gays i rlly appreciate it <3
> 
> check out my alphys x undyne artwork here (i would rlly love it if you could give me a cheeky follow on instagram too ;) https://www.instagram.com/p/BraYgpRg2wQ/ )

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaa ive wanted to post smth like this for ages lmao, how was it? your comments are encouraged and appeciated!! <3


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